40 Lovely Comments:

You don't know me, but I follow your blog on reader! We have an orchid that we have to keep in the bathroom so that it gets plenty of humidity. It's kind of sad, having to leave a gorgeous plant like that in a bathroom, but ours looks great because of it. I'd imagine just leaving it in the bathroom while you shower would work well enough.

Very pretty! I bought my first orchid about five years ago. I now have six, and right now two of them are getting ready to bloom and another three are growing new stems. I keep mine usually in a north facing window, water them good once a week...or so...when I remember. Sometimes I add 20-20-20 fertilizer. The secret is not too much light and I think to having them re-bloom is too have them in a room that cools down at night. I don't worry too much about humidity, but if they look sad mist them once a day. Good luck and love your art and your blog!!

hi geninne - i love orchids, but never had much luck with them until a friend gave me one when we moved into our new place. I basically just leave it alone and it seems to be doing fine! It is in our kitchen window, north facing, and every so often - maybe twice a month or something - i will dribble a tablespoon or two of water in i, avoiding the leaves and the center. This room gets quite cool at night as well. It seems to like this very much, it is now about 1 1/2 years old and is about to bloom for the 3rd time! I may just buy myself another :) XOX sharilyn

2) Whenever you remember to water the other plants (about every couple of weeks or so) let a couple of drops dribble into the bark or whatever they've got down there (of course you don't look, because it'll die soon).

3) When the cat (who got hepatitis and almost died from eating your other tropical plant) starts nosing around the leaves, move it to the top of the fireplace.

4) About 7 months later, when it starts to get cold and you have your first fire, look up, and OMG there are FLOWERS ON THAT THING!!

Beauties, aren't they. I have two and they are in full bloom right now. My advice is to leave them alone as much as possible. Water them very sparely (always with stale water and once in a week is quite enough, especially if the humidity in a room is high) and never leave water in the bottom of the pot. I fertilize them once in about two months month but with only half of the quantity of a fertilizer I use for other plants. I keep them in my living room in which the temperature is constant and they are never in full sun. Good luck!

Hi Geninne!I have several orchids and amongst them one that I've had for 3 years or so, and it is now making a new stem, I guess it will have new flowers in a few months?I just water it a little bit every 10 days or so, I don't move it when I see it feels good where it is, I don't put it in rich soil and... I don't expect anything, I am patient... :)

I have had an orchid (the same as yours) for 2 years, it's placed just next to a big window, so it gets sometimes direct sunshine (which is forbidden), I water it when I remember (once a month) with plain water from the sink (and not mineral water as adviced) and it has flourished already twice and is going to flourish again. And I left it in the same pot it was in when I received it.

I had one at work. It lasted for a few weeks and then all the flowers fell of. One of my co-workers saved it from the garbage can and with her magic green fingers she made it flower again. Lot’s of light and some fertilizer she told me. /Hanna

what a beutiful drawing.Don´t give the orchid much water. Less is more. And I always put them in a window to the north. Not to sunny and hot. I have a bunch of orchids and they keeps getting new flowers 2-3 times a year.

hi geninne,here's a tip from Lisbon, Portugal:in order to water the orchid, please make sure that the vase you've placed it on has small holes in the bottom, so that you can place it together with the vase inside a big ball with warm water (not too hot, not too cold), hold it for a few moments and then take it out. wait till most of the water gets out through the holes, and that's it. it do this every one or two weeks. also: talk to it :)hope my english is clear enough :) love your blog!* i stop once in a while and just looking at the images you post makes me feel that some simple things can, indeed, be full of beauty.have a nice week! *

Hi! I love orchids but right now I have only one. It doesn´t receive direct light and once a week in the summer or once every two weeks in the winter I put it under running water for 3 minutes and then let the water drain out completely. I´m expecting it to bloom anyday now.

Gorgeous orchids, Gennine, both your illustration and the one in your photo. I adore orchids and keep several, both inside and out, - of course the climate here in Malaysia helps! Anyway, here are my tips for caring for the housebound ones:

1. ensure plant has plenty of light.2. water once a week from the bottom (i.e. fill the sink with water and plunge pot for up to 30 mins.3. When blooming is over, cut the stalk bearing flowers down to about 1 cm. Be patient - new growth will follow!

I've had orchids for years and they bloom often. They sit in a south facing window so lots of light. I water once a week with a very weak solution of fertilizer...it takes lots of energy for those beautiful blooms. When I water I really flush the bark or moss that they're planted in with room temperature water and drain completely. A friend told me "orchids don't like cold feet and they don't like wet feet". My house is very dry...Minnesota...and they do fine as long as I water properly! Good luck!!!

Hi Geninne :)(sorry about my english)I don`t have an orchid, but I know that much of them grow in places full of humidity, maybe because they are not good conserving water. could be a good idea to spray water over the plant, specially in the dry seasons, while you water it normally.

Love your blog, and especially your handmade stamps. So inspiring! You have already received a ton of good advice, but I have a serious black thumb, and have managed to keep several orchids alive in my apartment, so I thought I'd pipe in.Here's what I do:1) Put them in a room that gets sunlight for at least a few hours a day. 2) Run lukewarm water over the roots (and let completely drain) every couple weeks or whenever you remember.3) When the flowers fall off (which they always do, eventually) don't give up on them- put them in a damp, shady corner of your garden and they will come back like a miracle. Easy peasy.

Heather T - ha ha ha! That's me! And then my fiance took over & oh, look at all these lovely reblooming orchids in my home! :) Anyway, I still love orchids - or as fiance calls them, the spoiled children of the plant world. Even so, ditto on Jennifer - we (ha ha) water them 1x week with lukewarm water, drain completely. (In our old apt, we had a very happy orchid living in one of those weird nooks in our shower.)